Zero roaming: a citizens’campaign against Europe’s last fronter

Atlantic Eixo, RIET (the Iberian Network of Cross-border Institutions), OCU (the Spanish Organisation of Consumers and Users)and DECO (the Portuguese Association for Consumer Protection), with support from BEUC (the European Consumer Organisation), launch together a campaign at European level to collect digital signatures in support of the European Parliament's position regarding the elimination of roaming telephone charges from December 2015.

The campaign, launched under the slogan "Zero Roaming" - www.change.org/zeroroaming, wants to mobilise citizens against an unjustified cost which undermines the European Internal Market, affect the rights of citizens, and is Europe’s last frontier.

The problem of roaming affects a large part of the European population. This is not just a problem for tourists, but also foreign students, entrepreneurs, displaced workers and citizens living in towns on the internal borders of the European Union.

Roaming is the last frontier of Europe, with a very negative impact for citizens especially on the economy and workers on national borders. Therefore, the European Commission proposed to eliminate roaming charges and the European Parliament ratified the proposal, specifying that roaming would disappear on 15 December 2015. Unfortunately, the position of the Member States, especially the states of southern Europe such as Spain and Portugal, has put the brakes on the Parliament's proposal, putting the interests of the operators above those of its citizens and they want to unreasonably delay the elimination of roaming until 2018.

Coinciding with the meeting between Parliament, Commission and Member States which should substantially advance negotiations on this issue with a view to reaching agreement before the summer, the promoting organisations are launching a campaign for citizens to make their voices heard in favour of the petition from the European Parliament and for roaming to disappear the sooner the better.

For the organisations launching this initiative, the disappearance of roaming is another example of how big companies impose their own interests over the rights of citizens and against the decisions of the institutions that represent them. They therefore ask citizens for their support for the enforcement of the proposal of the European Parliament and the disappearance of roaming in December 2015.
 
2 June 2015

Atlantic Eixo is the cross-border institution that brings together the 38 main towns and local bodies of the Galicia and North of Portugal Euroregion. Created more than 20 years ago, it works for the development and enhancement of the urban hierarchy in the cities of the territory.
www.eixoatlantico.com
 
RIET, the Iberian Network of Cross-border Institutions, brings together 32 members from local, business and university organisations along the whole of the Portuguese-Spanish border. It represents the interests of over 12 million people and one million companies based in these areas with a GDP of 188 million Euros.
www.rietiberica.eu

OCU. The Spanish Organisation of Consumers and Users is a   private, independent non-profit organisation that was set up in 1975 to promote the interests of consumers and help them to assert their rights. It is its more than 350,000 members who, with their subscriptions, finance the activities of the organisation. OCU focuses its work on the constant improvement of the standard of living of consumers.
www.ocu.org
 

DECO
Founded in 1974, DECO, the Associação Portuguesa para a Defesa do Consumidor (the Portuguese Association for Consumer Protection)has over 400,000 members. Among its objectives are to inform and educate consumers, mediate in conflicts between them and companies and institutions and call for the adoption of or changes in laws for the protection of consumer interests
http://www.deco.proteste.pt/
 
  For more information (media) Eva Jimenez Tel:   91 722 60 61 - ejimenez@ocu.org, prensa@ocu.org www.ocu.org